President Trump said Monday that his falling out with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was because the New York financier was “inappropriate” and “hired help,” without elaborating on what exactly occurred between the two.
“He did something that was inappropriate. He hired help, and I said, ’Don’t ever do that again,’ and he did it again and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. “I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth.”
He was angered by the question and did not explain what he meant by “hired help.” Instead, the president simply said the break with Epstein was “old history” that he didn’t want to “waste time” talking about.
Questions about Mr. Trump’s ties to Epstein, who apparently took his life in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting federal sex trafficking charges, have continued to hound the president, dominating headlines and overshadowing his agenda. Even during his visit to Scotland to discuss trade deals with the European Union and the United Kingdom and the worsening situation in Gaza, Mr. Trump found himself on the defensive over his past connections with Epstein.
The president told reporters on Monday that he declined an invitation to Epstein’s private island, where several high-powered and wealthy individuals were alleged to have engaged in sexual activities with underage girls.
“A lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island,” Mr. Trump said. “In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn’t want to go to the island.”
However, Mr. Trump also declined to say if Attorney General Pam Bondi notified him that his name appears multiple times in a slew of documents related to Epstein. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Ms. Bondi informed the president that he was among several high-profile figures in the Epstein files.
Being mentioned in the Epstein files is not evidence of wrongdoing, and no public evidence exists that Mr. Trump or any other figures included engaged in any illegal activities.
Instead of answering the question, Mr. Trump fumed that he’s not “overly interested” in the Epstein files or the information they contain. Instead, he blamed Democrats for the controversy.
“It’s a hoax built up way beyond proportion. Those files were run by the worst scum on earth,” he said, ticking off a list of political enemies who had access to the Epstein documents, including former Attorney General Merrick Garland and former FBI Director James Comey.
“Those files were run for four years by those people. If they had anything, I assume they would have released it. I ran against someone who ran the files,” Mr. Trump said, referring to former President Joseph R. Biden. “If they had something, they would have released it.”
